Murdock Peak sits above the top of Millcreek Canyon, to the north. Most tag it from there. An alternate approach from Lambs Canyon requires access to private property roads, which I was lucky enough to have this weekend at a friend’s family cabin. We took some old forgotten and overgrown roads and trails. It was gorgeous.

We started at Salamander Pond/Lake and took an old road up past it. It was overgrown, but there was a clear double-track. Along the way we found random signs of recent traffic off the road, but not much on the road. Before reaching Murdock Basin, the faint track of the old road crossed a big meadow in the opposite direction of the northern summit ridge. Had we studied a map beforehand, we would have seen that it does indeed continue, and hook up with a trail that reaches the peak from the east. Instead, we schwacked up a game trail west to the ridge and followed a “trail” up the ridgeline to the peak. We came down what my friend had heard was the better route from Lambs Canyon, down the ridge to the west, and then a 90 degree turn down the ridge towards Lambs Canyon. Sure enough, there was a strong trail the whole way. It was a fun loop though.